Acer (potted)

I have a potted green leaf Acer in my garden. It's about 5 feet tall in a large pot. I have it about 3 years. This year, it got a white fungal growth around the base. In the last week, one large branch has rotted. It is not broken and there is no obvious reason why it died. Does anyone know what the fungal growth (tiny white fungus) might be and if I can save my tree (which I really love and hate to lose). I have a second Acer in my garden in a raised bed, it is perfectly healthy.

Fungus growth ? It could be scale insect ( lots of em ) - these are releasing their egg sacs at the mo and kinda look like small fungus growths. They do tend to mass at the base. Just remove them using water and cotton wool. And, if the tree is in good condition it should be ok.

I can just see the white fungus. Not the bug over it. So not sure if it is the same as the link you sent me. I have looked up other websites, and it looks like the tree has a disease and may need to be removed. Part of the tree (about 1/4) is dead.

Hi Theresa, think marshmello nailed it on the fungus, just cleared mine, wiped them off with a cloth, get them every year, but acers seem to get die back where a branch or some just die, had two on my bloodgood and one on my griseum. Read some of the other Acer links, and there's plenty, same sort of problems